Sermon Scripture: John 11:1-45

Death is an intruder, an enemy, a force that has no place in the world God intended. But the gift of free will, the very capacity that makes love and goodness possible, also means that the collective weight of human choice sometimes comes with a dark shadow side, and so sin and death entered into God’s creation.

Bad things happen to beautiful people. Even death. Even to people God loves. Even to a man named Lazarus in a small town called Bethany. But Christ meets us at every threshold where death is waiting, and in his hands, even the darkest doorway opens into life.